New polls show McCain, Obama close in Indiana

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By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Sep 18, 2008 at 10:28 AM EST

Story Updated: Sep 18, 2008 at 10:28 AM EST

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two new polls show a tight race in Indiana between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain as Obama tries to break the GOP's 40-year grip on the state's electoral votes.

An Indianapolis Star/WTHR poll released Wednesday night showed 47 percent of likely voters supported Obama while 44 percent favored McCain. The difference was within the poll's margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Meanwhile, a CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research Corp. released Wednesday found McCain favored by 51 percent of likely voters and Obama supported by 45 percent. That poll had a sampling error of 3.5 percentage points.

The Star/WTHR poll showed Obama strong in the metropolitan Indianapolis area — with a 54 percent to 40 percent advantage — but McCain apparently leading in all other parts of the state, including typically Democratic northwestern Indiana, where he had a 46 percent to 41 percent advantage.

The poll also found one in four likely voters might still be up for grabs as 6 percent were undecided and almost 20 percent said they could change their mind before voting in the Nov. 4 election.

The polls showing a tight Indiana race follow months of campaign work and television advertising in the state by Obama that began in March leading up to the May Democratic primary, which he narrowly lost to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

McCain, in contrast, has done no advertising in Indiana, which Republican nominees have won in every presidential election since 1968.

The Star/WTHR poll was a telephone survey of 600 likely voters conducted Sunday through Tuesday by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa. The CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research Corp. poll was a telephone survey of 890 registered voters conducted Sunday through Tuesday.

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